Global Disaster Watch – An Overview

Menu

Wildfires

Wildfires – California, USA

As relatives desperately searched shelters for missing loved ones on Sunday, crews searching the smoking ruins of Paradise and outlying areas found six more bodies, raising the death toll to 29 in the town, matching the deadliest wildfire in California history. 228 people were still unaccounted for. Ten search and recovery teams were working in Paradise — a town of 27,000 that was largely incinerated on Thursday.

Wildfires continued to rage on both ends of the state, with gusty winds expected overnight which will challenge firefighters. The statewide death toll stood at 31. The Camp Fire that ravaged a swath of Northern California was the deadliest. More than 200,000 people have been evacuated and there are warnings more homes could be destroyed.

Drought, warmer weather attributed to climate change, and the building of homes deeper into forests have led to longer and more destructive wildfire seasons in California. While California officially emerged from a five-year drought last year, much of the northern two-thirds of the state is abnormally dry.